Salem History: The Founding of Salem

Let’s start off posting about history with the founding of Salem, and the early days of the township (long before it grew into the city it is today!)

Many are aware that Salem was founded by Roger Conant in 1626. Salem was his fourth and final destination in the new world after he left England; he first landed in Plymouth, followed by Nantasket, before going up to Cape Anne (the island of Gloucester), then bringing many of the farmers down to more fertile land – down to the mouth of the Naumkeag river, over the remains of a former Amerindian village.

Conant’s decision was based more on the abundance of arable soil near the swamps and the river, rather than on the availability of space for homes to be built upon. This meant that many of those who colonized Naumkeag, which would soon become Salem, had to learn unique skills through trial and error on travelling in local channels. They built dugouts and canoes (small ships they mimicked the design of from local Amerindians), and used those to travel between the homes, farms and towns along the coast.

Unfortunately, though Conant had done a fine job as the local governor, The Dorchester Company (which owned and funded much of the local land) decided that he was to be replaced with one of their employees, John Endecott.

Endecott and Conant were different, ideologically – where Endecott had a soldier’s background, and was a zealous puritan with a bad temper, Conant was considerably less religious and a more rustic, even headed man. This did not stop them from working together, though; Endecott searched for advice from Conant, and tried to make the transition as amenable as possible. This ensured that the farmers who were already living on the land, and those who were brought from England, would work together.

This deal is what prompted the renaming of Naumkeag to Salem, a derivation of the Hebrew word Shalom, meaning peace.

Is there anything or anyone in Salem’s history you’d like to know about?  Feel free to ask, and I’ll look into it!